Q 01/05

Which koala feature so closely matches ours that experts can struggle to tell them apart under a microscope?

A) Fingerprints

B) Eyelashes

C) Tooth enamel

D) Ear bones

Answer · why

A) Fingerprints

Fingerprints arose separately in koalas and in primates, whose ancestors parted at least 70 million years ago; the Adelaide team that found them propo...

Q 02/05

Which animals are the koala's closest living relatives?

A) Wombats

B) Kangaroos

C) Possums

D) Sloths

Answer · why

A) Wombats

Both belong to the suborder Vombatiformes; kangaroos and possums are in a sister group.

Q 03/05

Why do koalas sleep up to 20 hours a day?

A) Saving energy

B) Keeping cool

C) Avoiding predators

D) Conserving water

Answer · why

A) Saving energy

Saving energy: eucalyptus leaves hold so few calories that a koala can afford to do little else, and the old tale that the leaves leave it drunk is a ...

Q 04/05

The name koala is popularly said to come from an Aboriginal word meaning what?

A) No drink

B) Tree dweller

C) Sleepy one

D) Soft fur

Answer · why

A) No drink

No drink is the popular gloss, since koalas get most of their moisture from leaves, but dictionaries trace the word only to gula, the animal's own nam...

Q 05/05

The koala's genus name Phascolarctos combines the Greek words for 'pouch' and what?

A) Tree

B) Bear

C) Grey

D) Sleep

Answer · why

B) Bear

Bear was a mistake that stuck: settlers took the stout, round-eared climber for a kind of bear and called it the 'native bear', and the scientific nam...